Overview

Effective internal audits are key to maintaining ISO 14001 certification and driving real environmental performance. This live-online ISO 14001:2026 course provides the knowledge and skills you need to plan, perform, and report on internal audits of an Environmental Management System (EMS).

Over three engaging days, you’ll learn how to interpret ISO 14001:2026 requirements, evaluate environmental documentation, conduct interviews, and write clear, actionable audit findings. Through hands-on activities and simulated audits of a mock company, you’ll apply what you learn in real-world scenarios.

This ISO 14001 course is recognized by Exemplar Global and is ideal for EMS coordinators, internal auditors, regulatory managers, and ISO 14001 project team members. You’ll gain practical tools to improve audit checklists, refine note-taking and interview techniques, and contribute to corrective action and system improvement.

Whether you’re preparing for your first EMS audit or want to strengthen your internal audit program, this ISO 14001 course builds the confidence and credibility to support compliance and drive environmental progress.

What’s New in ISO 14001:2026

ISO 14001:2026 (fourth edition, April 2026) is a technical revision of the 2015 edition. The Plan-Do-Check-Act framework and the ten-clause harmonized structure are unchanged. This course covers the substantive 2026 updates, including:

• New Clause 6.3 — Planning of Changes. A formal requirement to plan changes to the EMS so that intended outcomes are still achieved. In 2015 this was implied; in 2026 it is its own auditable sub-clause.
• Expanded environmental conditions. Climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity, and ecosystem health are now named explicitly throughout the standard — most visibly in Clause 4.1.
• Risks & Opportunities promoted to its own sub-clause (6.1.4). What was bundled inside 6.1.1 in 2015 is now a dedicated sub-clause with its own documented-information requirement.
• Externally provided processes, products, or services. The 2015 term “outsource” has been removed entirely and replaced with this broader phrasing in Clause 8.1.
• Updated documented-information vocabulary. “Maintain documented information” is replaced by “shall be available as documented information”, and “retain documented information as evidence of” becomes “documented information shall be available as evidence of”.
• Compliance obligations vocabulary. “Fulfil compliance obligations” is now “meet compliance obligations” throughout the standard.
• Harmonized Structure (HS). The term “high level structure” is replaced by “harmonized structure” — same Annex SL framework, updated label.
• Clause 10 reordering. Continual Improvement (10.1) now precedes Nonconformity and Corrective Action (10.2). The old 10.1 General and 10.3 are absorbed into 10.1.

Who Should Attend

• Environmental Managers
• EHS Coordinators
• ISO 14001 Auditors
• ISO 14001 Project Managers
• Those involved in maintaining an EMS
• Internal Auditors
• EHS Consultants
• Managers who are audited in EMS audits
• Anyone seeking to improve their organization’s environmental performance

Attendees successfully completing the examinations provided in conjunction with this course receive a Certificate of Attainment for these Exemplar Global knowledge competency units:
EM – Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001)
AU – Auditing Management Systems